Top Tabs

Thursday, May 31, 2012

As discussed at ShadowStock, Commtouch (CTCH) has all the makings of a stock trading at a discount to its intrinsic value. The company trades for $65 million despite net cash of $22 million and net earnings of $16 million over just the last four years, resulting in an average ROE of about 20% over this period. Commtouch remains profitable, having earned another $1.2 million in its latest quarter.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

When I buy a company trading at a discount to its net current assets, I don't expect operational miracles; obviously, the company is trading at a discount for a reason. But ideally, a company is that not earning a decent return on its capital does not continue to invest and try to grow. In that respect, Blonder Tongue has become an investment of nightmarish proportions, forcing me to sell all my shares at a loss.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Both Xerox and Lexmark have been discussed on this site as potential value investments, and their stocks continue to languish. Investors looking to learn more about either or both companies should take a look at Xerox's latest conference call.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Morningstar's equity research director authored this book on identifying companies with competitive advantages. Dorsey separates competitive advantages into four categories, providing a framework for understanding how wide a moat a company really has. The book is full of examples of companies Dorsey believes have moats, and the reasons why their moats are likely to last - or not!

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Morningstar's equity research director authored this book on identifying companies with competitive advantages. Dorsey separates competitive advantages into four categories, providing a framework for understanding how wide a moat a company really has. The book is full of examples of companies Dorsey believes have moats, and the reasons why their moats are likely to last - or not!

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Morningstar's equity research director authored this book on identifying companies with competitive advantages. Dorsey separates competitive advantages into four categories, providing a framework for understanding how wide a moat a company really has. The book is full of examples of companies Dorsey believes have moats, and the reasons why their moats are likely to last - or not!

Friday, May 25, 2012

In a previous post, the potential pitfalls of investing in companies with poor corporate governance structures were discussed. But how can an investor protect himself? There are two basic ways. First of all, the investor can become knowledgeable about what makes for good corporate governance, and then study up on each company in which he is interested in order to make sure it follows practices in accordance with sound corporate governance. The second method is to take advantage of the information published by the companies that specialize in rating and reporting on the governance practices of public companies.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

About a year ago, Duckwall-ALCO (DUCK) was discussed on this site as a high-risk, turn-around situation. Since then, the company's value has stabilized while it's price has fallen some 30%. As a result, it trades at a 50% discount to its net current assets and is therefore much more compelling from a value standpoint.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

The idea that airlines make for lousy investments has been broached a number of times on this site. But what about a tour operator that trades for far less than its cash balance? Transat AT (TRZ) will be of interest to many value investors, thanks to its $190 million market cap versus its cash balance of $640 million. In addition, the company has more than $75 million (after write-downs) in ABCP! Furthermore, the company is generally profitable and free cash flow positive (though last year was an exception).

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Paulson Capital has been brought up a few times on this site because of how cheaply it has traded relative to its current assets. Last week, shareholders were rewarded. Immediately following the company's earnings announcement, shares almost doubled; as a result, this company becomes the latest stock to move from the Stock Ideas to the Value In Action page.

This result re-enforces a number of lessons value investors should already know:

Monday, May 21, 2012

National Presto Industries (NPK) now trades with a P/E under 10, having dropped 50% of its share price in just the last year and a bit! Instead of discussing the company further, I'll point you to someone who has already done so at GuruFocus, but come back here when you're done because there are a couple of issues with that article that I want to dissect.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Morningstar's equity research director authored this book on identifying companies with competitive advantages. Dorsey separates competitive advantages into four categories, providing a framework for understanding how wide a moat a company really has. The book is full of examples of companies Dorsey believes have moats, and the reasons why their moats are likely to last - or not!

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Morningstar's equity research director authored this book on identifying companies with competitive advantages. Dorsey separates competitive advantages into four categories, providing a framework for understanding how wide a moat a company really has. The book is full of examples of companies Dorsey believes have moats, and the reasons why their moats are likely to last - or not!

Friday, May 18, 2012

The mainstream finance industry defines a company's riskiness by its stock price's volatility. For value investors, there is no such short cut; a company's riskiness is defined by a slew of factors that can affect the business. Previously, we have considered some items that can affect risk on the cost side. Today's post will discuss some items relevant to risk on the revenue side. The vast majority of analysts and investors are so focused on near-term results that they rarely think about these long-term business risks; investors who consider these are poised to generate better returns in the long-term.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

In late 2010, Harbinger Group was discussed on this site as a potential value play because its holdings in Spectrum Brands exceeded its market cap! The discount did converge somewhat in late 2011, but it has now widened to even higher levels; since that article in November of 2010, Spectrum's stock is up almost 20% while Harbinger has been practically flat.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

The mainstream finance industry equates price volatility with risk and believes the market to be efficient. That is, prices of stocks are fairly priced, and therefore the only way to generate higher returns is by taking more risk (i.e. buying stocks with higher volatilities).

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Xerox (XRX) has a P/E ratio of 7 and a P/OCF ratio under 5. As a result, it trades under book value (!) despite an ROE greater than 10% and operating margins in the high single digits.
Before you dismiss this company out of hand as a dinosaur, consider that this is not your father's Xerox. Just as we've recently seen how Dell is no longer the PC company you thought it was (and therefore may be undervalued as well), neither is Xerox the copier/printer maker of yesteryear. Today, Xerox derives the majority of its revenues and profits from the sale of services (business process, IT and document outsourcing).Read more...

Monday, May 14, 2012

So you "get" value investing. You understand the concept of buying stocks when they are unloved and therefore cheap based on metrics such as P/E and P/B, as you realize that such stocks tend to outperform over time. But you don't have the time to constantly screen and then investigate the latest value ideas. So why not invest in an ETF like the S&P 500 Index Fund (IVE)? Read more...

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Morningstar's equity research director authored this book on identifying companies with competitive advantages. Dorsey separates competitive advantages into four categories, providing a framework for understanding how wide a moat a company really has. The book is full of examples of companies Dorsey believes have moats, and the reasons why their moats are likely to last - or not!

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Morningstar's equity research director authored this book on identifying companies with competitive advantages. Dorsey separates competitive advantages into four categories, providing a framework for understanding how wide a moat a company really has. The book is full of examples of companies Dorsey believes have moats, and the reasons why their moats are likely to last - or not!

So you've got the antagonistic, profit-hungry hedge fund from New York ("Why, this stuff's made in NEW YORK CITY???") trying to block a local company's altruistic attempt at improving its corporate governance. But a closer examination of Telus tells us what's really happening.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

I know at least some of you have an interest in joining the Value Investors Club, because readers have periodically asked for my advice on how to join. I'm not a member, nor have I ever applied, but that doesn't mean I can't help!

Frequent commenter "aagold" informed me that he was accepted into the club yesterday, thanks to this write-up. Potential candidates should check it out (apply online)! Even for those not interested in joining the club, however, the write-up may still offer you a potential buying opportunity for your own portfolio.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

InfoSonics has already shown up on this site on the Value In Action page, but its recent price action (as pointed out by a commenter on this post) demonstrates what it is we value investors love about stocks trading at discounts to their net current asset values.

Monday, May 7, 2012

In a previous post, we saw how humans appear to have an overconfidence bias, and how that can play havoc on financial forecast estimations. What is not immediately clear, however, is the increasing role overconfidence plays the more knowledge one acquires. That is, as expertise rises, so does overconfidence, resulting in the fact that the people with the most knowledge are likely to be the most miscalibrated, which can result in detrimental effects.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Morningstar's equity research director authored this book on identifying companies with competitive advantages. Dorsey separates competitive advantages into four categories, providing a framework for understanding how wide a moat a company really has. The book is full of examples of companies Dorsey believes have moats, and the reasons why their moats are likely to last - or not!

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Morningstar's equity research director authored this book on identifying companies with competitive advantages. Dorsey separates competitive advantages into four categories, providing a framework for understanding how wide a moat a company really has. The book is full of examples of companies Dorsey believes have moats, and the reasons why their moats are likely to last - or not!

Friday, May 4, 2012

Since we know value investing works (e.g. low P/B and low P/E portfolios outperform), why might you, a value investor, be underperforming? In a fascinating series of posts, Greenbackd breaks down a paper that seeks to examine why different types of value investors underperform. For example,

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Isn't it crazy to avoid investing in oil stocks? After all, don't we all know that energy prices are going up in the long term? As large, developing countries continue to grow, demand for oil is sure to sky-rocket, right? Furthermore, as a non-renewable resource, the world's oil supplies reduce every single day. Unfortunately, these stories don't tell the whole tale, and the reasons for value investors to stay away from investing in commodities like energy have never been stronger.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Humans have the ability to learn from their mistakes. In so doing, they can reduce the likelihood of repeating such mistakes, which should theoretically lead to a better existence. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that investors wishing to improve their investing acumen will attempt post-mortems on their investment decisions in order to determine what went right and what went wrong. But as I attempted such a post-mortem on a risky investment that didn't pay off, a commenter made an interesting point:

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

The question of how to treat Goodwill has confounded accountants and investors alike. Clearly, Goodwill has some value in most cases, but exactly how much it's worth is not known, and therefore how much of it should be reflected on the balance sheet is a difficult question to answer. A few years ago, a substantial change was made by the two global accounting authorities on how Goodwill is to be treated. As a result, changes in market prices can actually cause Goodwill writedowns, which can lower earnings and potentially cause further Goodwill writedowns as a result! Investors should be aware of this potential for a virtuous cycle of declining earnings and declining stock prices.